Unable to bear the spine-chilling cold, an elderly woman breathed her last in front of the SDO office in Garhwa, Jharkhand.

80-year-old Shyamdei Kunwar had come to the SDO’s office on Monday morning to seek a blanket to protect herself from the unbearable cold. Her request was rejected by the office. She waited until the afternoon outside the office gate. It is while sitting on the pavement that she passed away because of the cold.

Later her nephew Suresh Bind, a daily labourer, told Bhaskar that his aunt hardly managed her livelihood after the death of his uncle. Kunwar’s son is also a labourer working in West Bengal. Suresh said that Kunwar had been visiting the SDO office for the last 15 days just to receive a blanket, but every time she had to return with empty hands.

The SDO of Garhwa Rakesh Kumar told Bhaskar that the octogenarian passed away after vomiting. He had never seen the woman before Monday. He also told that the state government had distributed over one lakh blankets to poor people across the state and Garhwa district received over 30,000 blankets by that time. There was no one to confirm whether these blankets were distributed or not.

Social Security Assistant Director Piyush Kumar told that the blankets are distributed by the BDO and ward members.

The Logical Indian is appalled by the fact that a woman who had been visiting a government office for 15 days could not be saved by just arranging a blanket for her. We wonder how many of the blankets reached the people in Garhwa district. Had this been Ranchi or New Delhi, aid would have reached without a lot of effort. But people in the hinterlands do get affected as administration and government continue to not show any concern or care for them.